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Ms Roseanna Cunningham MSP has written once again to RBS asking for them to provide further detail on the statistics used in their determinations on whether to close or retain Royal Bank of Scotland branches such as Comrie and Kinross in her constituency.

Ms Cunningham said:

“When the closure of the Royal Bank branches in Comrie and Kinross and others across the country was first announced, RBS justified their decision by quoting customer branch usage figures which were only nationwide. So I asked them to provide figures on a branch-by-branch basis as I was certain that they would show a very different picture in some areas, particularly those branches serving rural communities.

“The RBS backtrack announcement which gave a reprieve to 10 branches, including Comrie, included some very welcome localised information which confirmed my suspicions. However, I think that there is more information that could be provided that would paint an even more accurate picture of the importance of rural branches, in particular.

“While I was happy to receive the news that the Comrie branch has been granted a reprieve until the end of 2018, I am extremely concerned that it is simply a stay of execution and I want there to be real transparency applied to the basis on which these decisions are being made.

“I want RBS to look into this matter further and provide accurate figures detailing the actual usage and the number of transactions for each branch.

“We all know that people are accessing banking services by a variety of means these days but it is wrong to claim the percentage figures of those banking in other ways, such as online or by telephone, as justifications since this does not reflect the fact that many of these customers will still visit their local branch for some transactions.

“I have also urged RBS to undertake further analysis and reconsider their position on the 52 branches still listed for closure such as Kinross and Perth South Street as well as those like Comrie under temporary reprieve.”